Return to Uluru — The repatriation of Yukun

by Dean Sewell/Oculi

It seemed a befitting start to the day for the return of Pitjantjatjara man Yukun, murdered some 88 years earlier on Uluṟu back in 1934 by Alice Springs mounted constable Bill McKinnon.

After a rare, overnight rain event, the sky broke apart and rays of sunshine were scattered over Yukun’s final resting place at the base of Uluṟu.

Responding to the murder of an Aboriginal stockman at Mount Conner in central Australia in 1934, McKinnon headed west with his Aboriginal trackers Paddy and Carbine and a support team. They came across a group of men hunting. A violent interrogation ensued and the men were arrested, chained and beaten.

When the group escaped after about a week in incarceration, they headed with a now badly wounded Yukun for the sanctuary of Uluṟu. Two of the hunting party would eventually be recaptured and one would spend 10 years in prison for murder.

Family arrive at the ceremony . Photograph by Dean Sewell/Oculi for Guardian Australia.

Following Yukun’s blood trail, Paddy and Carbine would eventually find the four remaining men in a cave, about 40 metres up the rock, near the Muṯitjulu waterhole where McKinnon would fire the fatal shots.

Richard Logan of the University of Adelaide ( left ) and John Carty of the South Australian Museum carry Yukun’s partial remains at the ceremony. Photograph by Dean Sewell/Oculi for Guardian Australia.

In 1935, McKinnon told a subsequent Commonwealth inquiry that he had fired into the cave without taking aim. McKinnon would eventually be exonerated but not without the inquiry expressing concern over his violent treatment of Aboriginal people.

Family pay their respects to Yukun’s remains before the ceremony. Photograph by Dean Sewell/Oculi for Guardian Australia.

Yukun died several hours later from his wounds and was hastily buried. He was later exhumed and his remains sent to the University of Adelaide and then to the South Australian Museum.

Family pay their respects to Yukun’s remains before the ceremony. Photograph by Dean Sewell/Oculi for Guardian Australia.

Historian and author of ‘Return to Uluṟu’, Mark McKenna, had been fascinated for years by Yukun’s case. He was able to track down McKinnon’s daughter through a donated Albert Namatjira painting to a Queensland art gallery.

Richard Logan of the University of Adelaide reads out an appology . Photograph by Dean Sewell/Oculi for Guardian Australia.

On meeting with McKenna, she allowed him to investigate a box of diaries her father had left behind and amongst his discoveries came across the single most important piece of evidence — McKinnon’s diary entry — written the morning after the shooting of Yukun. Part of the handwritten manuscript detailed : “Fired to hit.”

Abraham Poulson, the great grandson/ nephew of Yukun passes the partial remains of Yukun, wrapped in the aboriginal flag down to men awaiting to receive him. Photograph by Dean Sewell/Oculi for Guardian Australia.

Upon his discovery, McKenna contacted the South Australian Museum which sparked an extensive DNA search of over several hundred specimens in the museum’s inventory of non-providenced artifacts.

Pastor Malcolm Willcocks of the Lutheran Church of Australia presides over the ceremony with Abraham Poulson, the great grandson/ nephew of Yukun to his right at the ceremony. Photograph by Dean Sewell/Oculi for Guardian Australia.

The rigid testing regime of the South Australian museum overtime uncovered Yukun’s skull. The remainder of Yukun’s body remains unknown which has led to one theory that Yukun’s skull was claimed as a trophy.

Decendents of Yukun stand above the burial of Yukun. Photograph by Dean Sewell/Oculi for Guardian Australia.

Photographs by Dean Sewell/ Oculi for @guardianaustralia
My gratitude to the traditional custodians of Uluṟu, the Yankunytjatjara and Pitjantjatjara people for permitting me to document this most important ceremony.